Breadcrumb navigation:

Spam

Spam email has rapidly become a critical problem for all email service providers, both public and private. Boston College ITS has implemented policies and technologies to protect the BC email system.

What BC is doing to fight spam

BC Spam Quarantine Service: BC uses a Spam Quarantine Service that blocks and quarantines messages it identifies as spam. Items are NOT delivered to email accounts.

BC email users are required to enter their password to send email. This prevents computer viruses from sending large amounts of spam email from affected computers.

BC continuously evaluates new technologies to leverage against spam.

Spam Reduction Tips

In addition to keeping your operating system and anti-virus software up-to-date, these tips can help reduce the amount of spam you receive.

When you receive unwanted email, do not reply to it, click links in it, or click “Remove me" links unless you can verify their authenticity.
If you know the sender to be legitimate, proceed to the sender's website, which should contain the option to unsubscribe from the mailing list. Even if an email containing links appears to be from someone you know, verify the legitimacy of any links with the sender.

Use caution when disclosing your email address.
The more locations your email is recorded, the more likely you are to receive spam. Read the fine print, especially privacy policies, when signing up for online services. Consider establishing a second free email account with Google, Hotmail, or similar provider, and using that second address for your online shopping and commercial needs.

Be skeptical. Educate yourself.
Spammers go to great lengths to get their messages through and often try to deceive you. Be skeptical and be careful.